Tan In Lau

Zig Zag

Shadow and light resist each other. Yet, it’s the light that highlights the shadow and the shadow sharpens the light. They are friends and enemies. To show such a clear contrast and interaction, I chose areas that have strong sunlight that allows clear shadows and image.

Looking at Zig Zag, you may be curious how the zig zag light that highlights the being of the girl is created. If you look more carefully at the light, it is actually brighter than the light outside the body. It’s bright enough to resist the shadow from inside and is actually created by the concentrated reflection by a door glass. Simultaneously, the zig zag and the shadow are so compatible to each other as both the direction of their lines follows the stairs, though they are in great contrast in their color. By looking at the shadow longer, there may be a feeling that the stairs having been dug into the human shape as the area looks hollow. I have made greater contrast between the light and the shadow through photoshop because I wish to create a perception of hollowness in the body. Though it’s just a single zig zag line, it’s greatly protruded by the shadow that it looks more like the stairs than the stairs themselves. The stair texture of the zig zag brings the viewer back from the hollowness to the reality that it’s just a trick between shadow and light.

By using the same area, I change the vantage point when I take The Controller. I show lively interaction between the light and shadow by making use of the already great contrast. While in zig zag the light is active in resisting and dissolving part of the shadow, The Controller, the hand’s shadow, manipulates the stronger light by holding it. The interaction becomes more interesting because the shadow and the light are depicted like concrete and real things by the space relationship between the different tones of light and shadow. It’s lively because it seems to be able to move up but not only stick to the floor. I do not make much greater contrast of the subjects through after work this time because I want the viewers to acknowledge that they are shadows but they can be lively.

Cubes can be viewed from different angles as they give different visual senses of depth, direction and form of the light which is shaped by the shadows. They differ most when you turn the photo upside down. There is still a clear gorge between the cubes and the flat light on the right of the photo. But, the direction and the depth of the gorge interestingly change. The juxtaposition of the flat left and deep right of the lights brings our focus to the right little cubes and the rich range of light, despite they only occupy 20% of the image. The illusion of the sense of depth created by the combination of the shade and light range is created by the reflection of a hexagonal crystal stick which reflects and refracts different levels of light.

The Cow Eye is composed to create confusion of the intersection of the 2 places that appear to be real at the same time. To allow the illusion, I depict the sense of depth of both places through diagonal lines and their original colors. By looking into the black cow eye above, the light, color and form of the objects are quite clear. Yet, the extension of the image beyond the cow eye with a lighter and less apparent color tone confuse you whether it’s real or not. Following the diagonal lines from the cow eye, you are probably stopped by a horizontal-like edge. You think, ‘it may be a reflection only as there’s a shadow in front of it. ’Besides, the texture right above the edge is a bit uneven and unclear. However, you may then be trapped again as you see the green leaves and brown branches above the uneven-like wall that look even more real than the image in the cow eye because they are bright. What is what? Which is which?